Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentines Day from Constanta

Hey everyone! How are y'all? It's time for another email already. This past week has gone fast! I'm doing well and am liking Constanta more. I have a fun district too. I'll try and remember what happened this past week.

So, my first p-day here was fun. We went to Internet, then went bowling for a while. Later, we had some lunch as a district over at the other elders' villa. On Tuesday we had district meeting. Later that day, we had a fun english class. Elder Lainhart is such a fun guy and does well teaching and making the class fun. We all combine in one room with about 15 people or more. On Wednesday, we talked to Anca, a recent convert. She's a strong member and so is her mom, Mihaela. We've been reviewing with her the lessons over again. It's good practice for me with the language, however, she knows some english. On Thursday and Friday, we had Zone Conference in Bucharest. We took a bus over to Buc on Thursday for Zone Training. We held it in the Mihai Bravu chapel (the first chapel built here) which is in the Bucharest East Zone (my zone). There, we talked about how to be better missionaries and how to better teach. We did simulations and heard from President, his AP's, and the Zone Leaders, Elders Frandsen and Johnson. We had Dominoes pizza for lunch! That went until 9 p.m or so, then Elder Johnsen and I stayed the night at the AP's apartment. The office elders also live there. It was fun to get to sleepover there. It was a pretty nice apartment. Also, that day was my comp, Elder Johnsen's 1 year mark. His MTC companion, Elder Olson (an office elder) and he were both together there so they could burn a shirt! (missionary culture is to burn a tie at the 6 month mark, a shirt at the year mark, pants at the 18 month mark, and a whole suit at the 2 year mark.) That was fun for them. The next day, we headed back to the chapel for Zone Conference. We had a good time there too. I was chosen among 3 other missionaries to give a 10 minute talk on a subject provided earlier- agency. So I did. It went well. We had some good burritoes for lunch. It was the first time I've had some good Mexican food in a while! Soon, enough, we were back on the bus to Constanta. I had a lot of fun.

I had a fun Sunday. I liked church a lot. The branch here is way cool. I have just about met everybody in the branch. There are some cool youth and some cool older people. Of course, the Branch President, Alin, is awesome. He went to the Manchester, England mission (for you dad). He's actually an actor or something, I think. Elder Biggs and Johnsen told me he was in Anaconda 3, as a doctor or something. I think he gets eaten by the snake. Ha. I bet that movie's pretty dumb though. But an interesting tidbit anyways. I also met an American lady here who is in the branch. Her name is Stephanie. She's here as a teacher in a high school as part of the Peace Corps or something. She grew up in Riverside, CA. She served a misison in Pennsylvania. I don't know much else about her, other than she's pretty cool and we're helping her learn more Romanian. She's been living here for the past 6 months. This is a unique branch! I like it.

This past week, we haven't talked to many people or had many lessons. We need to find a lot more people! The city is kinda dry right now. The other Elders haven't had many lessons either. We need to pick up the work here. I got to go block knocking and street contacting for the first time here. It went well. I don't like not having many investigators. We could also get help with members too in helping our existing investigators to progress. Hopefully, we'll stay diligent and get more lessons and find new investigators this new week. Elder Johnsen is a good guy. We're getting along better now and finding more commonalities. He's the district leader here and it's his 2nd transfer here now. We'll hopefully get even more along and work well in finding the people we need to find. I also love Elder Lainhart and Elder Biggs. They're super fun. It's a lot of fun to get together as a district and do things. There's already only 4 more weeks of this transfer! I hit my 6 month mark in 3 weeks!

Constanta is huge and doesn't make much sense to me still, but I'm liking it more. It's been nice and sunny weather here for the past week but today it's been colder and cloudy. It's always windy here too. But it's never been as cold as Bacau! That's nice. I wonder if I'll stay here for a 2nd transfer. Odds are I will. I'm enjoying it each day. I'm doing well with the language each new day. Elder Johnsen is pretty good at it. I'm thankful to have his help.

On Wednesday and Thursday this week, I get to go back to Bucharest for zone leader exchanges. I am going to Buc with Elder Frandsen for 2 days, and Elder Johnson is staying here with Elder Johnsen. Should be cool. I can get to meet them even more by then. Hmm, what else? That's really about it for this last week. Today is Valentine's Day! Have a good one y'all. Also, Happy Birthday mom!!! I hope you had a fun and relaxing day! I was thinking of you and hoping you were enjoying your birthday. I haven't yet gotten your other small package, but I'll expect getting it soon! I also got that letter from Matt on transfer day. A few days ago, I got a letter from another friend- Emily Lawrence!! It was great to hear from her! I love mail! I heard from Elder Fisher too! He's in his new area, Sulphur Springs, TX. He says he enjoys it! He told me he has 5 baptismal dates already! It's good to hear from him! I know he's liking his mission so far, out in the field now! I haven't heard from anyone else recently.

Anyways, that's about it for me. Thanks for your emails and support. Thanks for your missionary stories of encouragement dad! I hope you and mom are doing well. I also hope the family is doing well too! That's exciting that Liz's sister is getting married! Congrats. It's also exciting that Kenadee turns 1 year old in less than 2 weeks already! Wow. I miss her. I wanna see more pics of her soon, as well as more pics of the rest of the family! Mom and dad, start taking pictures of places and yourselves so I can see you guys! I love seeing pictures of the family. I am happy everyone is doing well. Keep it that way! Tell me about any more exciting news. I guess I'll sign off for now. Talk to y'all next week! Va iubesc! La revedere! LOVE, Elder Lee.